Members of the Meitei community hold a solidarity meet in Delhi's Jantar Mantar
The Meitei community of violence-hit Manipur held a protest demanding justice in Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Friday, the day ethnic violence broke out with the Kuki-Zo tribes last year.
The community appealed to all the elected representatives of Manipur to work together with the people by taking steps towards reconciliatory efforts with the sole mission of bringing a lasting peace and harmonious co-existence in Manipur.
"One year of continuous turmoil with sporadic violence has shown that intimidation and bloodshed cannot solve any problem. It is only through dialogue that lasting peace can be achieved. But peace has to come hand in hand with justice. We have to strive for just peace. Otherwise we cannot have lasting peace," professor Bhagat Oinam said.
Rohan Philem, a social activist, said, "Yes to peace, but no to separate administration. Yes to solidarity, but no to the so-called Kukiland. I stand with Christians, but not with the Kukiland war mongers."
Members of the Meitei community maintain they do not seek any control of the hills where the Kuki tribes are settled. The influx of foreign infiltrators, however, has caused massive unnatural growth of villages in Kuki-dominated hill districts where Meeteis are not granted land rights and controls, they said.
Poppy plantation of tens of thousands of acres of forest reserves has caused irreversible deforestation in an uncontrolled manner and the poppy trade has infused tens of thousands of crores of narcotics-funded activities that affect Manipur and the rest of India, the organisers of the solidarity gathering said in a statement.
"Through the call for justice cry, we seek justice from both the state and central government for those who have suffered immensely from the year-long crisis," they said.
"The propaganda of lies has unfairly portrayed the Meiteis who are the real victims of cross-border terrorism as culprits. They have been misrepresented, humiliated, targeted, unprotected, and denied timely justice," the organisers said.
The organisers comprised DeMaS, Delhi Meetei Coordinating Committee, Global Manipur Federation, Karnataka Meitei Association, Meetei Yaipha Lup, Meitei Alliance, Meitei Diaspora in America, Meitei Heritage Society, NUPI, Souls Offered Unitedly for a Lustrated Society, Team Meitei Personalities, and World Meetei Council.